Sunrisers have won all three matches played between the two teams so far.

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After the 10-wicket defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday, when five of six bowlers used went at more than 10 an over, James Faulkner or Andrew Tye is likely to make the Lions XI. Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja are still unavailable due to injuries.

Sunrisers, who thumped Royal Challengers Bangalore in the season opener, will miss the services of left-arm quick Mustafizur Rahman for the second match in a row. But coach Tom Moody said he is “more than likely” to be available for their first away game of the season, against Mumbai Indians, on April 12.

Sunrisers are the only side Lions are yet to beat in the IPL. In 2016, Lions scored at a run-rate of 7.05 against Sunrisers, which is considerably lower than the 8.34 they have managed across all their matches against all other teams.

In the last eight matches at Rajiv Gandhi International stadium, fast bowlers have picked up 66 wickets at 27.39 with an economy rate of 7.82. By contrast spin has yielded only 10 wickets at 54.3 with an economy rate of 7.72.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar boasts the best figures against Lions: eight wickets for 84 runs with an average of 10.50. He has also won two Man of the Match awards in three games against Lions. Against all other teams, across 74 matches in the IPL, he has only two more such awards.

Among the 20 bowlers who have bowled more than 30 balls to David Warner in the IPL, Dhawal Kulkarni is the only one to have conceded less than five an over.

Kulkarni averaged 16.12 against left-handers and Bhuvneshwar 17.57 against right-handers in IPL 2016, which gives Sunrisers excellent options for whichever style of batsman Lions use at the top.

Lions joined Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals as one of four teams to be beaten by 10 wickets in the IPL twice. In nine seasons of the tournament so far, there have been only 10 such one-sided matches. Lions’ first such loss was against Sunrisers in 2016 and their latest was against Knight Riders on Friday.